Her pulse stuttered.
Luke moved closer behind her. “What?—?”
Then he seemed to realize the truth.
Luke turned toward the Crumps. “Did any of you see someone near Ms. Door Lady’s house?”
Eli quickly shook his head. “We just came out here. We didn’t see nothin’.”
Amayah forced a small nod. But the air had shifted.
“Who’re you anyway?” Eli stared up at Luke, an almost protective look in his gaze.
“I’m . . . Luke.” He narrowed his eyes as if unsure about the change of conversation.
“He’s a reporter,” Amayah added before turning her attention back to her door.
Someone had been inside her house.
Again.
Was it the man she’d seen earlier?
Quiet dread coiled in her chest as her anxiety escalated.
CHAPTER 10
“I’m going in first.”Luke’s tone left no room for debate as he nudged the door wider and stepped inside, shoulders tight, gaze sharp.
Amayah didn’t argue with him.
He checked the house in quick, deliberate passes.
Amayah followed behind him, her eyes tracing the familiar shapes of home.
The couch pillows were still in place.
Her crocheted red and white blanket lay neatly folded.
The lamp glowed softly, casting gold across the far wall.
Everything looked . . . normal.
But somehow, she knew it wasn’t.
A quiet sense of wrongness prickled along her skin as she turned toward the narrow table beneath the window.
Her breath caught.
Her smallest Christmas tree—the ornamental one she’d set there just this morning, twinkling with white lights and simple wooden ornaments—was gone.
Her stomach dropped.
“What is it?” Luke appeared beside her.
“It was right here.” She pointed to the table. “My little tree. I just decorated it earlier today.”
Luke’s gaze swept the windows, the doorway, the edges of the room again. “You’re sure you didn’t leave it somewhere else?”
